To date, the Central Division has been the weakest in the NBA, with the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers bunched up near .500 and the sad-sack Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons far behind. That suits Chicago just fine.

That’s because, if all goes well, the Bulls will have point guard Derrick Rose back for the second half of the season.

Derrick Rose started cutting on his surgically repaired knee last month. (AP Photo)

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, in fact, Rose could soon return to the court. Citing a league source, the paper said that Rose could be back on the practice floor by Christmas, though general manager Gar Forman cautioned that no timetable has been set. Even if Rose does return to practice, it could still be more than a month before he gets back on the floor for games.

Rose tore his ACL in the Bulls’ first playoff game last year, and had surgery to repair it in May. That capped off a year in which he battled numerous injuries, including to his ankle and back, following his MVP campaign in 2010-’11. The Bulls could use some good news on the injury front, because they have lost shooting guard Richard Hamilton—who had been playing well, averaging 13.9 points on 45.5 percent shooting—to plantar fasciitis. The injury will keep him out at least a week, though given the fact that Hamilton is 34 and plantar fasciitis can linger, he will likely be out longer.

The Bulls will have either Jimmy Butler or Marco Bellinelli to replace Hamilton, and could move Kirk Hinrich to shooting guard, with Nate Robinson at point. For now, the team will start Bellinelli at shooting guard. Either way, it just means that the Bulls will be even more pressed to stay in the hunt for the Central Division. If they do, and if they can pull away from the pack in the second half, they will be guaranteed a favorable postseason matchup in the first round, and could get hot in the postseason if Rose is healthy.